Roses and Thorns
by A M4D TE4-P4RTY
Summary: To prove his love for Cosette, Marius promises to arrange their wedding without her input and unwillingly, Courfeyrac agrees to help him. The only problem: they have no idea about weddings. The whole thing is set to be a disaster so, in secret, Courfeyrac enlists Éponine to help him but things still don't seem to be going to plan... (Modern AU, from Courfeyrac & Éponine's POV) xx
1. Courfeyrac

"You did what?"

It was a bright Sunday morning and we were sat in Marius and Cosette's flat enjoying an early-morning coffee. Opposite me Marius was chewing his lip looking rather nervous. To be honest I would look nervous too in his position. When he had asked me to come over to talk about something important I'd never imagined this. Part of me really wanted to laugh.

"I agreed that I would organise the wedding without Cosette's help," he muttered not talking his eyes off the mug in his hand, "I have to pick a date, buy her a dress, write the invitations, everything."

By this point I was really struggling to keep the grin off my face. I mean this is why Marius should never have moved out of my flat and in with Cosette. Things like this just seemed to happen to him, he needs me to look after him. The first day in his new home he bought her a ridiculously expensive china cat he hated, because it vaguely reminded her of a cat she had when she was about three or once they went on holiday together to Spain, because Cosette had always wanted to go, even though Marius gets a rash in the sun. He just does things like this without thinking about them first and this was possibly the stupidest idea he'd agreed to yet. "Well, good luck with that." I congratulated myself on managing not to sound like I was finding the whole situation very entertaining.

For a few minutes we sat in silence. Marius was clearly trying to decide whether to say something or not. I helped myself to a chocolate biscuit and waited patiently for him to speak.

"Cosette suggested that you could help me," my friend suddenly blurted out in a rush, "It would be great to have a second opinion and you are going to be my best man..." His voice trailed off and he glanced up at me hopefully.

Quickly I racked my brain for a polite way of getting out of it. What did I know about weddings? They sound like a complete nightmare to me. I've never understood why women find them so important, it's just a party after all. I was just opening my mouth to tell Marius that I was very sorry but I was far too busy at the moment when he muttered, "And I already told Cosette you'd do it." He avoided my eye, staring at the table instead. At least he had the decency to look guilty.

"You did what?", I repeated looking horrified, "I can't plan a wedding, I've never even been to one!" In hindsight I probably should have tried to sound less panicky, but I had just been told that I was going to have to go shopping for things like wedding dresses and flowers. It was just too embarrassing for words, I could already hear my friends laughing at me. Everybody expected things like this from Marius, but not me, I had a reputation to maintain. "Can't you tell her something came up and I can't do it after all," I begged, inwardly cringing at how whiny I sounded.

Marius shook his head, looking apologetic. "She already told everybody else about it and they all know you're not busy." At that moment I could have cheerfully picked up the large vase of flowers on the table and clubbed Marius over the head with it. I was almost tempted, after all he couldn't get married if he was in hospital, but it did seem a little drastic. With a groan I let my head thump onto the table. Well there went my idea of keeping my involvement a secret.

"Why are you doing this anyway?", I asked him. What I really meant was, why are you making me do this, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I'd do anything for my friends, even something as ghastly as this. Sometimes I wished I was just a little bit more selfish and could have said no, but what can you do, it's just not in my nature. I should really have been honoured that he valued my opinion, well that's what I tried to tell myself anyway.

Marius' face lit up enthusiastically. "It'll prove how much I love Cosette and show her how much she means to me." Actually I should have expected an answer like that, so typically Marius.

With a sigh I drained the last of my coffee. "When do you want to start?" I was secretly hoping he'd say next week or maybe even next month or something. That would give me some time to arrange a way to get out of the worse jobs, like choosing flowers for example.

My friend threw me a grateful look, though he must have known I'd never really have said no. "How about today?", he suggested, nervous again, "I just thought the sooner we started the better. Cosette wanted to get married in summer, as it's her favourite time of year, so that means we don't really have much time..." Great, just what I needed to make this whole experience more enjoyable, time pressure.

I forced a smile onto my face and helped myself to another biscuit. I was going to need it. "That suits me, I didn't have anything planned today anyway." Actually I had been going to go to the library with Combeferre that afternoon, but Marius looked so pathetic and pleading that I just couldn't let him down. Combeferre would understand.

Relieved Marius lent back in his chair and sipped his drink. Clearly he had expected me to be harder to convince. Knowing him he probably thought the planning would be easy. "I thought the first thing we should do is make a to-do list, so that we don't forget anything." Wonderful, the first job and it sounded grim. Neither of us were really the organised, list-writting types but what can I say, Enjolras rubs off on you eventually.

With a sinking feeling I got up and fetched Cosette's magnetic shopping list pad off the fridge. It was pale pink with a border of little dark pink roses and there was a glittery blue pen with it, very fitting for organising a wedding. I looked at it in disgust. Who actually uses these things, I wondered to myself as I sat back down at the table. "So what do you know about weddings?", I asked Marius, hoping that he had more of an idea than I did.

"Well, I've been looking it up and I think it should be relatively easy if we focus and don't let ourselves get distracted." The fact that he had looked it up didn't really surprise me. Marius would do anything if it made Cosette happy. "I think the first things we should sort are the venue, the date and the guest list, then we can send off the invitations. What do you think?" Marius had been busily scribbling on the pad as he spoke.

"I have no idea." I shrugged. I knew it sounded like I was being unhelpful, but I really couldn't even begin to guess at what needed doing when. "Sounds sensible to me. What else do you need for a wedding? Dress and suits and stuff, flowers, a cake, rings." I counted the things I could remember off on my fingers while Marius added it to our rather pathetic list.

Marius paused, the pen hovering over the pink paper. "What else?" When I didn't answer he looked vaguely irritated which I thought was very unfair as I had told him I knew nothing about any of this stuff and anyway he was the one who had claimed to have researched the subject. Slightly sulkily I folded my arms. "Don't look like that. It's not that bad, we'll think of something." Marius was doing his best to sound cheery and positive. Immediately I relented and unfolded my arms, after all being in a bad mood would only make this whole ordeal worse and Marius needed me, he can't even arrange a trip to the cinema without help, he's that hopeless.

"A photographer?", I suggested trying to make up for my brief bad mood, "In films people are always looking at their wedding photos and reminiscing about stuff, aren't they?" We added it to the list and then sat staring at the paper as if words would somehow magically appear on it. "Why don't I make another coffee?", I offered when the silence had dragged on for almost five minutes. My friend didn't seem to hear me. He was too busy fretting over the incomplete to-do list. I got up anyway and busied myself with filling the kettle, finding mugs and rooting through the cupboards for more biscuits. "Is this wedding going to have a theme?", I inquired as I waited for the kettle to boil.

With a start Marius looked up at me, alarmed. "A what? Do weddings have themes?" I had to bite my lip very hard to stop myself from laughing at my friend. We had been doing this for under an hour and he already looked frantic, his hair sticking up wildly from running his hands through it.

I shrugged. "Some do, I think. Not all of them though." I felt briefly smug that I sounded so knowledgeable. Really I was cheating, I had no idea what I was talking about, but I vaguely remembered somebody telling me about a Disney themed wedding they'd been to once. I tried and failed to picture Cosette walking down the aisle in a Disney princess dress to music from the Lion King. "I don't think Cosette would like a theme though," I said after a brief pause. Marius looked relieved.

Once I was sat down again and we were both sipping hot coffee and happily nibbling digestives Marius brightened up again. We managed to add bridesmaid's dresses, shoes, accessories and hair and make-up to the list relatively quickly, but after that we got stuck again. "Why did I think I could do this?", Marius moaned after fifteen minutes of hopeless brainstorming, "This was such a bad idea." I refrained from pointing out that I'd thought that all along and this situation was entirely his fault. Somehow I didn't think it would make him feel better.

My phone buzzed and I pulled it out. It was a text from Combeferre asking if I was still coming with him that afternoon. With a sigh I told him that I was busy planning a wedding with Marius and it didn't look like we'd be finished any time soon, as we were already stuck on a to-do list. When the reply came back I could have hugged Combeferre. Marius looked puzzled as I clapped my hands delightedly and beamed at the phone. "Combeferre says we should google a wedding to-do list," I explained.

Why we hadn't thought of this before was a mystery, I thought to myself as ten minutes later we waited for a list to print. It was so much faster and it even recommended what order to do everything in. This is exactly why if we ever need anything planning we leave it to Combeferre. I grinned at Marius and he smiled back at me. Maybe this whole wedding thing wouldn't be so hard after all.


	2. Éponine

I was seriously beginning to wonder if the words "I am busy" meant absolutely nothing to Courfeyrac.

I had been up since six o'clock in the morning stacking supermarket shelves and my day was going from bad to worse. So far, I had had to clean up after two toddlers and a dog that had been unable to control their bladders, re-stack a huge display of baked bean tins when some careless idiot knocked them over and been yelled at by an old woman because the supermarket had run out of cat litter. Saying it wasn't turning out to be my day was a drastic understatement.

And now I was being tailed by Courfeyrac practically whining at me, my day was complete.

Don't get me wrong, I love Courfeyrac, I really do. He just really wasn't being helpful. People were starting to give us funny looks and everything. "What do you want?", I hissed furiously at him out of the corner of my mouth, hoping against hope that my boss didn't see me talking to one of 'my idiot friends'. That had happened once too often and I had been warned in no uncertain terms that the next time he caught me, I could go and look for a new job. Just what I didn't need.

The idiot friend in question cringed and grovelled a bit more before wandering closer to me in a would-be casual way and whispering in my ear: "I need your help with something." He stuffed his hands suggestively into his trouser pockets and grinned at me, eyes straying to my low-cut uniform.

I practically brained myself on the shelf behind me as I leapt away from him in horror. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?", I demanded in scandalised tones. A woman picking up a packet of Brussels sprouts next to us looked shocked and backed away quickly leaving her sprouts behind, as if she expected us to start having it off in the vegetable aisle. I could happily have murdered him, chopped his body into tiny little pieces and fed it to Jehan's goldfish.

Courfeyrac laughed and punched my arm hard enough for it to almost hurt. "No, nothing like that, you prat," he snorted, now looking highly amused at my expense.

It was a bit late to stand on my dignity so I decided to opt for the slightly more childish but highly satisfying option of punching him back as hard as I could. "Sometimes you can be a right w...", I began, quickly braking off mid sentence as cat-litter-lady came back into view. As fast as I could I ducked out of sight behind a decorative fruit and veg stand, leaving a slightly baffled Courfeyrac standing vacantly next to a display of leeks and cabbages. I was not going to give the old bat another chance to start yelling at me about cat litter again.

She walked past muttering to herself and I extracted myself from the fruit and veg. "What do you actually want, Courfeyrac?", I snarled somewhat uncharitably. I hated being made to look a fool in front of my friends and climbing into a vegetable display is about as foolish as it gets. "You do realise, if I'm caught talking to you I could lose my job, so this had better be good." I stood staring up at him in what I hoped was an intimidating, don't-mess-with-me glare and tapping my foot impatiently.

He didn't seem at all intimidated or put off. In fact, he was still smirking. "If your boss sees us pretend I'm a customer complaining about the freshness of the bananas", he instructed suavely and lent back against the display I had just climbed out of and looking every bit the handsome fairytale prince. At that moment I really hated him.

"I am not talking to you," I snapped furiously, "Go away and bother somebody else. Don't you have anything better you could be doing than annoying me?"

Clearly he didn't because he didn't move. "No, honestly, Ponine. I need your help with something."

I wasn't going to be fooled that easily. "Look," I advanced on him until I was inches from his face and hissed in my most dangerous voice, "I don't care how attractive you think you are, I am not doing _that _with you. I am trying to work. Just because you are a selfish, lazy, arrogant excuse for a human being doesn't mean everyone is. I have had a very trying day and this is the last thing I need right now. Honestly, the only way to make my day worse would be sleeping with you. I told you last time, _NEVER AGAIN_. And do you want to know something else?" I was really starting to get into my stride by that point. "Contrary to what you clearly believe you are in fact rubbish in bed!" I stopped, breathing heavily.

Opposite me Courfeyrac was still laughing and held up his hands in surrender. "Actually, I didn't mean that. Why don't you meet me for a coffee after work and we can talk properly?"

An hour and a half later we were sat at a table in the café in M&S drinking coffee. Well, Courfeyrac was drinking coffee, I was sat with a cup of tea and a blueberry muffin in front of me sulking. My shift at the supermarket hadn't improved as it went on and I was in a thoroughly bad mood, which he, incidentally, was doing nothing to improve. So far, he still seemed unwilling to mention what it was he wanted help with and the fact he had insisted on buying me a muffin as well as a drink, made me think it was probably nothing good. When your friends start trying to bribe you, it's never a good sign.

It took him at least a quarter of an hour to get to the point and when he did I just laughed. I genuinely thought he was joking. "So let me get this straight," I sniggered, "you want me to help you help Marius plan his and Cosette's wedding?"

Courfeyrac actually nodded enthusiastically and gave me one of his winning grins. "Yep, that's about it. Will you help?" He looked across the table at me with his most pathetic, pleading puppy-dog eyes.

My jaw dropped. "You're serious?", I asked flabbergasted.

Opposite me, Courfeyrac nodded serenely and leant over to steal a piece of my muffin. "Yeah, I'm serious. Why shouldn't I be?"

By that point I had completely forgotten that I had been having a crap day and that I was still supposed to be annoyed with Courfeyrac. I slapped his hand away from my food and stared at him, my mouth still hanging open in shock. "Because it's ridiculous! Is this another of your jokes?" I scrutinised him carefully, he didn't seem to be pulling my leg. In fact, I would have guessed he was being serious if the idea hadn't been so ludicrous. Marius and Courfeyrac planning a wedding?

He shook his head. "It's honestly not a joke. Marius wants to prove to Cosette how much he cares about her and show her he's prepared to do anything for her, or something along those lines. And because I'm his best man he wants me to help him." He completely ignored my derisive snort and took a gulp of coffee. "Anyway, Marius hasn't got the first idea about organising a wedding and if I'm honest neither have I. He wants us to do it all by ourselves without any cheating and without asking Cosette, and quite frankly I think it's a terrible idea. What on earth do I know about weddings? Marius and I can't plan their wedding for them, it'll be a disaster!"

I found myself laughing out loud. The people at the tables next to us were actually starting to sneak surreptitious glances at us but I didn't care. "And why should I help you?", I eventually managed to choke. "I'd quite like to see how this turns out." Again, I dissolved into helpless laughter.

For once in his life, Courfeyrac didn't seem to see the funny side of things. "This isn't funny, would you stop laughing!", he exclaimed grabbing my hand, "If this goes wrong it will totally spoil Cosette's wedding, don't you see?" He gave my hand a little shake. "She only gets one wedding and I don't want to be the one responsible for messing it up!"

I was on the verge of pointing out to him how insensitive he was being. He knew perfectly well how I felt about Marius and asking me to help arrange his wedding to someone else seemed a bit much, even from Courfeyrac, but then I thought better of it. After all, Cosette was my best friend and I knew how much this wedding meant to her. I didn't want them to spoil it. "What exactly are you asking me to do?", I enquired as casually as I could taking a large gulp of tea to hide my discomfort. Admitting to Courfeyrac that I still hadn't managed to get over my feelings for Marius was maybe not the best idea after all. I had confidently informed all my friends that I was completely over my silly infatuation. _As if, _I thought bitterly to myself.

"Marius and I have to arrange everything by ourselves without consulting Cosette or asking any of her friends and family for help. I'm proposing we cheat, well, I cheat. I tell you what we're going to be doing that day, say buying a dress, and you find out what sort of thing Cosette would like. Work for you?"

"What's in it for me?" I grinned at him over the coffee cups. Seriously, what sort of an idiot did he take me for. There was no way I was doing all this for nothing. He was desperate and needed my help, whatever the cost. I figured I could afford to make a few demands of my own. I'd have helped anyway for Cosette's sake, but he didn't know that. When opportunity knocks...

He gaped at me like an idiot for a second, but to his credit he recovered fairly quickly. Clearly he hadn't expected this. "Your friend gets her dream wedding and you don't have to go to a party arranged by Marius trying to be romantic?" Trust Courfeyrac to make a joke even when confronted with an unexpected turn of events. That's just so him.

I stood my ground. "Not good enough."

"You can be so selfish at times. Ok, what do you want?", he asked. His voice was casual but his eyes were resigned. I knew I had him, and so did he. He must have wanted my help pretty badly, after all. He hadn't even bothered trying to talk me round.

"Promise me Cosette will never find out I was involved." _Start small and work your way up, _I thought to myself. _If I start with the big demands he'll never agree to everything_.

As I had anticipated Courfeyrac agreed readily. "I promise," he said earnestly, taking a sip of coffee and waiting for me to continue.

"And I get to chose the bridesmaids' dresses," I added. Wearing a dress was bad enough, there was no way I was letting Marius pick some horrible, fluffy, pink number covered in bows or anything disgusting like that. If I had to wear a dress, it was _not _going to be a revolting one.

"Agreed."

"I don't have to sit near Marius's weird aunt at the reception."

"I'm sure that can be arranged."

At this point I figured he must be thinking that he'd got off lightly, so I decided it was time to hit him with the big one. "And you have to drive me to work everyday for a month after the wedding."

Courfeyrac choked on a piece of muffin stolen off my plate. "What?!" He looked horrified.

"Take it or leave it," I shrugged casually, turning my attention to my cup of tea. I had him over a barrel and he knew it. Really, he didn't have a choice in the matter. He needed me and this was the only way he was going to get my help. He knew that, too. I could practically hear the cogs in his brain working.

"Ok, fine," he grumbled eventually, "but only if you keep up your end of the bargain." At least he had the good grace to give in without a fight. No use wasting your energy fighting for a lost cause.

"Oh, I will." I grinned at him and tucked into what was left of my food. "You are in deep shit, you know, mate," I pointed out unhelpfully with my mouth full. 

Courfeyrac sighed. "Don't I know it."


End file.
